Chinese Medicine: In East Asia, along the basins of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, land has always been the fundamental basis for survival. For generations, people lived within circles centered on their own land, naturally forming multiple bloodline-based hubs, with individual families serving as sub-centers within each. This powerful kinship cohesion gave rise to a centralistic worldview, shaping the uniquely Chinese patriarchal society in which family and state were unified through ties of blood.
Western Medicine: The prototype of mainstream Western culture first emerged in the Aegean region, encompassing the Greek peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, Crete, and the western coast of Asia Minor. The vastness of the sea, the mobility of navigation, and the attendant risks made it difficult for people to settle on any single coastal point as a fixed center of activity. Instead, their minds were oriented toward outward expansion in all directions. Ancient Greek medicine was built upon an anthropocentric view of nature, reflecting a philosophy of separation and opposition in natural relationships.
Chinese Medicine: Rational medicine in the Chinese tradition was established during the era of the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon). Using methods such as analogical reasoning and inferring the interior from exterior manifestations, and drawing upon the limited anatomical knowledge available at the time, this text grouped together the most closely related physiological functions, pathological manifestations on the body surface, and internal organ sites, summarizing them under the framework of the five viscera and six bowels.
Western Medicine: Rational medicine in the Western tradition was established during the era of Hippocrates. Although the Hippocratic Corpus regarded the human being as a whole and recognized that the harmonious balance among all parts of the body and with the environment constituted health, its descriptions of the functions of various tissues and organs were based primarily on concrete, objective anatomical morphology.
The medieval period widened the gap between Chinese and Western medicine in terms of their scientific and technological foundations. Ancient Chinese science and technology reached their zenith during this era; though their character and level belonged to the ancient world, many of the theories and techniques of Chinese medicine developed precisely during this period. In Europe, by contrast, science, technology, and medicine alike were subordinated to religious theology, reducing their scientific content to its lowest ebb.
The centuries following the sixteenth century decisively deepened this divergence. When the fruits of Europe’s scientific and technological revolution began to spread to China, Chinese medicine was locked in a struggle for its very survival, losing the conditions necessary to absorb new scientific achievements. Western medicine, on the other hand, was nourished by the modern scientific revolution. Nearly all of its new advances and breakthroughs were achieved by adopting and applying new scientific knowledge and technological tools, to the point where it could scarcely advance without such support.
Chinese Medicine: From its origins through 1640, Chinese medicine developed continuously, reaching several peaks—during the Qin and Han, Sui and Tang, Northern and Southern Song, and Ming dynasties. Its pace and level of development led the world for a very long time. After 1640, its growth gradually decelerated; following 1840, it fell into a historical trough, falling behind Western medicine in speed of development. It began to recover only after the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
Western Medicine: Western medicine experienced an accelerating peak from its origins through ancient Greece and Rome. Beginning with the Middle Ages in 476 CE, its pace of development declined into a historical trough lasting over a thousand years, falling far behind Chinese medicine. Starting with the medical revolution of 1543, it gradually climbed upward from that trough. After more than four hundred years of development, it not only surpassed Chinese medicine but reached the commanding heights of mainstream medicine worldwide.
In the process of searching for food, early peoples gradually discovered certain animals and plants with medicinal properties, accumulating experience over time. To this day, Chinese medicine upholds the principle that medicine and food share a common origin. A similar phenomenon can be observed among the early herbal remedies of ancient Greece and ancient India.
The coexistence of shamanism and medicine is a historical fact common to both Eastern and Western medical development. The gradual disappearance of shamanistic medicine was not the result of struggle but of exclusion. The developmental history of central medicine is precisely the process by which relatively correct understanding and methods gradually replaced relatively absurd ones, including shamanistic practices.
中文原文 / Chinese Original
中医:在东亚，沿长江，黄河两大流域，土地是人们赖以生存的基本条件。人们祖祖辈辈生息在以自家土地为中心的圈子内，自然地形成若干血缘中心。血缘中心还有一个个家庭等的次中心。巨大的血缘凝聚力构成了人们的中央观念，形成了独具特色的以血缘为纽带的家国一体的宗法社会。
西医:西方主流文化的雏形最初存在于爱琴海区域，包括希腊半岛，爱琴海中的各个岛屿，克里特岛和小亚细亚半岛的西部海岸地带。海洋的广阔和航海的流动性及相应的风险是人们难以据海陆某一点为固定活动中心，头脑里更多的是向外扩展的四方观念。古希腊医学建立在人类中心论的自然观之上，也在天然关系上体现了分离与对立的观念。
中医:中医的理性医学的确立是在《黄帝内经》时代。《黄帝内经》用取类比象，有表知里等的方法，借助当时有限的解剖知识，把相互联系最紧密的生理功能，病理表现于体表及体内脏器部位归纳在一起，用五脏六腑等加以概括。
西医:西医的理性医学的确立是在希波克拉底时代。《希波克拉底文集》虽然把人作为一个整体，并认识到机体各部分之间以及环境的协调平衡就是健康，但它对人体各组织器官的功能描述更多的是以具体的客观解剖形态为依据。
中世纪时期扩大了中西医之间科学技术内涵的差异。中国古代科学技术发展到鼎盛时期，科学技术内涵的性质和水平是属于古代科学的，中医学的许多理论和技术手段正是在这个时期发育起来的。而欧洲的科学技术和医学一起成为宗教神学的附庸，其科学技术内涵降到了最低点。
16世纪以后的几百年决定性的加深了中西医之间科学技术内涵的差异。当欧洲的科技革命的成果向中国传播的时候，中医学却陷入了为存亡而斗争的困境，失去了吸收新的科技成果的条件。西医学则不同，近代科技革命为西医学提供了全新的营养，出现的新进展、新成果几乎都是靠移植运用新的科学知识或技术手段完成的，到了离开科学技术的支持寸步难行的程度。
中医学从起源一直到1640年的数千年，持续不断的向前发展，出现了秦汉、隋唐、两宋、明朝等几个发展高峰，其发展速度和水平长期在世界上遥遥领先。1640年之后的300年，发展速度慢慢下滑，到1840年之后跌入了历史的低谷，发展速度落在西医学之后，1949年建国后开始向上回升。
西医学从起源到古希腊、罗马的是加速发展高峰，从476年开始的中世纪，发展速度下滑，跌入一个长达1000多年的历史低谷，发展速度和水平远远落在中医学之后。从1543年的医学革命，从低谷逐步的向上攀升，经过400多年的发展，不但超过了中医学，而且达到了世界医学主流医学的制高点。
在寻找食物过程中逐渐发现了某些有药用特性的动植物，日积月累获得经验。至今中医学上有药食同源之说，古希腊古印度早期所用的草药中也有类似情况。
巫医同源并存是东西方医学发展过程中都有过的史实。巫术医学的日渐消失并不是斗争的结果，而是被排除的结果，中心医学的发展史也正是由较为正确的认识和方法，逐渐排除相对荒谬的认识和方法，包括巫术的过程。
发表回复